How to Do a Spiral Perm

Washing and Sectioning Your Hair

Wash your hair gently with a clarifying shampoo. Shampoo your hair as you normally would with a clarifying shampoo, which will remove any oil, styling products, and dirt from your strands. Then, rinse the shampoo out of your hair thoroughly. Hair accepts curl best when it's squeaky clean! Avoid using shampoo that contains alcohol in the ingredients. The perming process itself is pretty drying, so you want to minimize damage as much as possible. You don't need to follow up with conditioner, since that will introduce oil and make your hair slippery to work with. Avoid deep conditioning your hair 24 hours before you plan to perm it.

Squeeze the excess water from your hair with a clean towel. Blot around your head to remove water close to your scalp with a clean, dry towel. Then, gently squeeze the lengths of your hair with the towel to remove the excess water. Your hair needs to be wet for the spiral perm to work correctly, but you don't want it to be dripping wet. Do not use a hairdryer to save time. It will dry your hair too much.

Comb out any knots with a wide-toothed comb. Start combing your hair at the ends and work your way up the roots of your hair. Be gentle and make sure you remove any knots or tangles before proceeding. If your hair isn't detangled, you'll run into problems when you start wrapping it around the rods. A wide-toothed comb is preferable because it's gentle on the hair. Smaller combs can cause breakage and damage, especially when used on wet hair.

Cover your shoulders with an old towel. To prevent any chemicals from getting on your clothes, wrap a towel around your shoulders. You may also want to cover the surfaces in your work area with newspaper. Consider protecting your face from the perming chemicals by applying a small amount of petroleum jelly on the skin below your hairline. Make sure that you do not get any of the petroleum jelly on the hair itself! If you have sensitive skin, grab a pair of plastic gloves.

Divide your hair into 3 main sections. First, section off 1 large portion in the back of your head, which is typically all of the hair past your ears. Twist the hair up and clip it in place at the back of your head. This leaves you with the hair on the top and sides of your head. Divide that hair into 2 sections, making the division where you usually part your hair. Twist and clip those 2 sections up individually. You should have 1 section clipped to the left side of your head, 1 section clipped to the right side, and 1 larger section clipped up in the back, for a total of 3 sections.

Wrapping the Hair around the Rods

Release a thin, horizontal layer of hair at the nape of the neck. Starting with the back section of hair, use a comb to part away a thin layer of hair at the nape of the neck, which should run from one side of the head to the other. Use the comb to detangle and smooth this loose section of hair before you start dividing and wrapping it around the rods.

Use a comb to make a vertical part that's ½ inch (1.25 cm) wide. You will be dividing the horizontal layer of hair that you just released into vertical sections that are ½ inch (1.25 cm) wide. Start on one side of the nape so you can work your way to the other side systematically. Once you’ve separated the first ½ inch (1.25 cm) wide section of hair, comb through it again to smooth it down before you wrap it. The amount of hair you part away should comfortably sit at the end of the roller. The width of the hair section should be about the same as the perm rod’s diameter. The remaining sections from the back portion of hair will be roughly the same size as this first one.

Cover the end of the first section of hair with a perm paper wrapper. Fold the paper wrapper in half lengthwise and sandwich the end of the section inside it. Make sure the paper wrapper extends all the way to the end of the hair section, fully covering the tips of your hair in the process. The wrapper can even extend a little past the tips of your hair. This ensures that the ends of your hair will be wrapped around the rod instead of bending improperly. When the ends of a section bend improperly, you will end up with "frizzies" or "fishhooks" at the end of each curl. You can buy perm paper wrappers at any beauty supply store. They basically look like small squares of white tissue paper.

Position a spiral perm rod at the end of the section and roll it 1 time. Hold one spiral perm rod directly under the end of the section of hair horizontally so that it's against the paper wrapper. Position the section of hair near one end of the rod before you start rolling. Then, roll the rod over, moving toward your head, until the hair is fully around the rod once. Spiral perm rods are long, slender, flexible rods that you can buy at any beauty supply store.

Roll the section until you reach the nape of your neck. Keep winding the hair around the rod by rolling it toward the scalp. Since you started at one end of the rod, the hair will continue to spool around the rod as you go. Gradually twist the hair and the rod counterclockwise as you wrap the section. By the time you reach your nape, the rod should be sitting vertically against the scalp. Each turn around the rod should only partially overlap the turn before it.

Secure the rod by clipping it or snapping the ends together. The way you secure it depends on the type of rod you have. If your rod looks like a tube and doesn’t have a clip, bend the rod into a "U" shape and snap the ends together to form a locked circle. If your rods have clips, simply pull down the clip and push it until you feel it snap together. Continue wrapping in ½ inch increments, clipping each rod vertically into place, until you reach the other side of the nape and there’s no hair left.

Part the next thin, horizontal section from the bottom portion and continue the process. After you finish dividing the first horizontal section of hair, release another thin horizontal layer, just like you did at the beginning. Divide this section vertically into ½ inch (1.25 cm) wide sections and wrap each one the same way as before. Keep going until you finish wrapping all of the hair in the bottom portion of the hair.

Finish rolling the remaining 2 sections the same way. Continue wrapping each divided section 1 at a time using the same process. Always work from the bottom of the section to the top. Working in this direction gives the rods room to hang from the scalp. If your hair begins to dry as you wrap it, spray it generously with water until it becomes damp again.

Apply the perm solution thoroughly on each wrapped rod. If the perm solution is not pre-mixed, mix it according to the manufacturer's instructions inside a squeeze bottle with a pointed nozzle. Squeeze the solution over the wrapped hair of each rod. Work systematically from the bottom to the top so that you don’t miss any rods. Make sure that the hair on each rod is fully saturated with the perming solution. Wear plastic gloves when you're working with perm chemicals. The chemical smell is pretty intense, so you might also want to crack a window. To keep the smell out of your hair, rinse the neutralizer out before you take the rods out. You can also use a Goldwell serum to get the smell out. You can buy the chemical perming solution at any beauty supply store.

Cover your hair with a shower cap and let it process for about 20-30 minutes. Since the rods are bulky, you may have to use 2 shower caps, 1 on each side, to cover your entire head. The processing time varies, but it’s usually about 20-30 minutes. Be sure to read the instructions that came with your perming solution and follow their directions.

Rinsing and Unwrapping the Hair

Rinse the wrapped hair thoroughly with cool water. Keep the rods in while you rinse the hair! After processing the hair, rinse it thoroughly for 5-8 minutes with cool water. Rinse the root of each section and gradually move all the way out to the end of the rod. The idea is to get as much of the solution out as possible, but you probably won't get all of it out, which is fine. The solution will probably burn a little as it gets rinsed away, which is normal. The cool water will help with that sensation.

Apply the neutralizer thoroughly to each wrapped rod. Prepare the neutralizer solution if it is not already pre-mixed, and put it into a squeeze bottle with a pointed nozzle. Squeeze the neutralizer over each rod of wet hair, thoroughly saturating each section from root to tip. Work systematically, just like you did when you were applying the chemical solution. The neutralizer completely stops your hair from processing.

Remove the wrapped hair from the rods. Carefully remove the rods from your hair, starting at the top of your head and working down toward your neckline, which is the opposite manner as before. Unbend or unclip each rod, then gradually unwind the hair until the rod slips off. Remove the rods slowly and gently to prevent any tangles. Remove the perm wrapper from the end of each section once the rod is off.

Rinse the hair out again with cool water. Thoroughly rinse the hair to remove any excess neutralizer and perming solution. Do not use any shampoo as you rinse the hair. If recommended by the manufacturer, you can also apply a leave-in conditioner. If this is not explicitly recommended, though, do not use any conditioner.

Let your hair dry naturally. You may need to gently detangle your hair with a wide-toothed comb as it dries, especially once the hair is nearly dry and only a little damp. Do not stretch the hair at all as it dries. Allow the hair to air dry completely. This can take a few hours, depending on the length of your hair.

Caring for the Spiral Perm

Wait 48 hours before washing your hair. You should wait at least 48 hours before washing your hair with shampoo or conditioning your hair, unless otherwise instructed on your home perming kit. If you wash your hair too soon, you could relax the waves and cause them to loosen or straighten out.

Choose gentle, moisturizing hair care products. Perms have a tendency to dry out your hair, even if you use a gentler formula. As a result, you should wash your hair with a gentle moisturizing shampoo and apply conditioner at least once a week. Avoid any shampoo or other hair care product that contains alcohol. Alcohol is one of the most drying, damaging solutions you can apply to your hair, especially after perming it.

Limit heat styling to preserve your curls. Consider letting your hair air dry after wetting it. After each washing, dry the hair gently to prevent the perm from relaxing. Your perm should last 3 to 6 months, depending on the condition of your hair and how often you heat style it. If you do not have time to let your hair air dry, attach a diffuser to the end of your hairdryer and blow dry your hair on low heat. Doing this should prevent the curls from straightening out.